The town’s remembrance group has previously decorated lamp posts and street signs with wooden poppies.
The group normally puts up 350 poppies to commemorate the town’s fallen soldiers (Image: Hoyland Remembrance & Parade Group)
A Remembrance Day display has been cancelled due to flags being put on lamp posts. The Hoyland Remembrance and Parade Group has previously decorated lamp posts and street signs in the Barnsley town with wooden poppies. Each of the 350 poppies would feature the name of a soldier commemorated on Hoyland’s war memorial.
However the group said “with a heavy heart” that the 2025 display was cancelled after it sought advice from Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, prompted by “what has occurred in relation to the installation of flags on lampposts”. The council reportedly laid out a number of “onerous” conditions, such as installing poppies above head height on non-road signage poles but not allowing the group to lean ladders against poles for installation.
The council’s rules reduced the number of poppies the group could put up (Image: Hoyland Remembrance & Parade Group)
The poppies could also not be attached to road signs and would need to be removed within five days of Remembrance Day. The Hoyland Remembrance and Parade Group said it was “genuinely disheartened” as the number of poppies they could have displayed was “reduced considerably”.
They said: “We cannot put one up with a name and not another, we believe this would be disrespectful for what the purpose of these poppies are for.
“Given all of the above, it is with a really heavy heart that in 2025, the group is not in a position to place the wooden poppies along the parade route and around Hoyland this year.
“We hope the public understands the position we have found ourselves in this year and ask that you continue to support us by attending this year’s parade.
“We will look at the issue over the next 12 months, engage with the council to determine if anything can change and update those who follow and support the work we do as things progress.”
Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council said it has “offered support to community groups to ensure tributes are delivered safely and appropriately”.
“We value the dedication of groups that honour our fallen heroes, and we fully support respectful poppy displays on street lights.
“There might be a change in the process of how these are installed, but we have offered support to community groups to ensure tributes are delivered safely and appropriately.
“A licence is required to attach any item to a street light. This applies borough-wide and is in place to protect everyone’s safety.
“An increase in unlicensed attachments prompted recent updates to guidance, but our commitment to remembrance remains strong.”
The council has previously supported the remembrance group, including by funding a flagpole to fly a commemorative flag and benches to mark 100 years since the installation of the town’s memorial.
